War With The Destroyer
by Animecrazy13ify
Summary: Valkyrie is gone, and Darquesse has destroyed the face of the planet. Skulduggery, the gang and other survivors are doing everything they can to stay alive, and get Valkyrie back. Will they ever succeed?
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Hang on Valkyrie!" yelled Skulduggery as the girl's body spasmed in his arms. Her eyes were threatening to roll back into her head. He could see how hard she was trying to keep them focussed on him.

"We need to get Nye!" said Ghastly urgently to Skulduggery.

"NO! Just wait!" snapped Skulduggery. Suddenly, Valkyrie gripped onto his arm and gasped, "She's coming... I can't... I can't hold her back..."

"Just hold on. Help is on the way." Skulduggery said soothingly. Valkyrie's body stopped spasming and she gave her partner a sad smile.

"I'm sorry, my friend." She whispered before her eyes closed, squeezing out a single tear which ran down her face into her hair.

"No. Valkyrie! Valkyrie! Can you hear me?!" yelled Skulduggery. And it was then that Darquesse opened her eyes, and malevolent grin plastered over her face.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Skulduggery Pleasant strode through the assortment of lean-tos, tents and ramshackle huts that littered the banks of the Roarhaven lake. Mages hurried in between the residences, some offering him nods or salutes, others too absorbed in what they were doing to notice him. He didn't blame those who didn't offer greetings. Everyone who had survived the world coming to an end had been extraordinarily busy with things like trying to keep themselves and the other survivors alive.

Skulduggery sighed and started walking towards the hut where he and the other four leaders of the resistance held meetings. The hut was located in the centre of the camp, right next to the medical hut, which was the largest building in the stronghold. The creature, Dr Nye, and his assistant Clarabelle had both survived. Skulduggery didn't mind strange little Clarabelle at all, but he wasn't sure whether he was disappointed or glad about Nye. Probably a bit of both.

As he reached the hut, he stared over to the wall which surrounded the stronghold. He could just see the little flickering lights that were the protective symbols carved into it, scattered along the huge structure. China Sorrows herself had carved those symbols. And because of her invaluable help, she had become one of the leaders of the resistance, head of defence to be be precise. Of course, now that her little secret about murdering his wife and child was out in the open, Skulduggery and the others weren't nearly as tolerant towards her as they would have been otherwise.

Skulduggery tore his eyes away from the wall and entered the hut. When he got inside he realised that the rest of the leaders had already convened. There was Ghastly, looking completely exhausted, but he still had light in his eyes. A light that hadn't been there until Tanith had returned to them. The said woman was standing next to him, her blonde hair cut short and her face marred by a long scar that snaked down from just underneath her eye down to her chin. The reason why she was back with them, Remnant free, was that, for reasons unknown to anyone but the Destroyer herself, one of the first things Darquesse had done when she awakened was she destroyed all the Remnants. Including the one inside Tanith.

"Skulduggery. Glad you could make it!" said Erskine Ravel in his cheerful tone. All of Erskine's hair had been burnt off in an attack three days ago, but luckily, he and his patrol made it out alive with only three cases of major burns. Standing next to Erskine, pouring over a map of some kind, was China Sorrows. She didn't even look up when he entered the room.

"What news?" he asked immediately.

"None. Darquesse is lying low at the moment." replied Ghastly.

"We have three platoons out there right now. And we've also got Sanguine burrowing around." said Tanith, a slight sneer in her voice when she said the Texan's name.

"There has been no sign of an attempt to breech our defences for days now." murmured China, still not looking up. There was a pause before Tanith asked timidly, "Uh, Skulduggery? Have the Sensitives been able to locate her yet?"

Skulduggery shook his head and replied, "No. They think that she might have put up a block of some kind to prevent us from locating her."

"Well, if there is one thing we know about her, she's not easy to find unless she wants you to find her." said Ghastly glumly. There was some silence before Erskine said, "In other news, we've finished building the Memorial Stone. You can go and see it after the meeting if you like."

Skulduggery nodded and sat down, preparing himself for the next two hours of going over battle strategies.

* * *

"My arm! What happened to my arm!" screamed the man with no right arm.

"Hush. Don't worry. Dr Nye had to chop it off because the burns were too severe. You have to calm down or else you'll start bleeding again and then I'll be in trouble." said Clarabelle, the blue haired assistant of the creature, Dr Nye.

"B-but my arm..."

"How about you just _pretend _it's there. That's about the same thing isn't it?"

"How is that the same th- ARRRRRRGGHHHHAAAA!"

Clarabelle tapped the side of her cheek thoughtfully and said, "I've made up a lot of words in my lifetime but I've never made up one like that."

"No! Behind you! _Behind you!_" shrieked the man. Clarabelle turned and let out a little yelp when she realised Dr Nye was standing right behind. And it didn't look pleased.

"I thought I told you," it seethed, "To deal with this patients hysterics _quickly _and then come and help me patch up the other patient's face."

"But I am being quick!" whined Clarabelle, "I've only been out here for five minutes!"

"When I say quickly I mean three minutes or under!" snapped Nye. Clarabelle offered it a sheepish grin and it stormed off. She then turned to the man on the bed and said, "I'll be back soon, okay? Remember, just _pretend _that the arm is there. You'll feel better in no time!"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Memorial Stone was located in the very centre of the camp. It was a large pyramid, vaguely reminiscent of the device that had imprisoned Argeddion. The stone had been painted black and hundreds of names in tiny silver lettering covered all four sides. There was basically no room left on it to carve new names. Skulduggery didn't doubt that they'd soon need to erect a new one.

He was circling it, scanning over the names. Occasionally one would pop out at him, like Madam Mist, Finbar Wrong and Melancholia St Claire. He stopped in front of the eastward facing side and stared at one name in particular. Fletcher Renn. God, that boy had been annoying sometimes, but still, his horrible jokes and stupid hair had brightened up the camp. And he had been dead useful when it came to rescue missions. It was on one of the rescue missions that he had met his end. Skulduggery didn't know the details of his death, but about a year ago, Darquesse had come soaring over to them and had thrown something over the wall shouting, "Kindly don't send anymore teleporters! They're very annoying!", before she had flown off again. The thing she had thrown over the wall had been Fletcher's head.

"Dwelling on the past won't help the future." Said a voice behind him. He didn't turn as Tanith walked up and stood next to him. She scanned over the names and he saw that she too, stopped at Fletcher's name.

"Hmph. I miss that kid sometimes," she said, reaching up and ruffling her hair, "He was kind of annoying, but he just had that sort of, you know, light air around him. He was a help to us all, out there, and psychologically as well."

Skulduggery didn't say anything, but looked out to the orange horizon over the wall. There was a flash of light and a distant boom. A murmur of concern whispered in amongst the tents as people looked over towards the horizon as well, no doubt praying that it wasn't a sign that the Destroyer was coming.

"You don't think she's attacking one of the teams out there, do you?" asked Tanith worriedly. Skulduggery shook his head and replied, "No, I think she might be destroying something just for the hell of it."

Tanith sighed again and murmured, "Do you think we'll ever get her back, Skulduggery?"

Skulduggery's shoulders sagged and he whispered back, "I don't know Tanith. I honestly don't know."

* * *

"This is the fourth splinter you've got in a week Scapey!" exclaimed Clarabelle merrily as she brandished a pair of tweezers at the young woman in front of her, "You should really be more careful."

"It's all my fault!" wailed the tall man standing next to them, "I should've been carrying the wood instead of Master!"

"Yes you should've you idiot, but could you stop screaming! It's embarrassing!" snapped the woman. The woman in question was actually not a woman but a man by the name of Vaurien Scapegrace. Long before Darquesse had taken over Valkyrie Cain's mind, Scapegrace had been turned into a zombie. Over time, his body had started decomposing, and then his head had been chopped off by the White Cleaver. He had gone to Dr Nye, who had given him a new body. But it had been a female body. Ever since, he had been searching for a new suitable body, but all the dead bodies that came to Nye were usually too mangled to be of any use to him.

"There! All done!" said Clarabelle happily, discarding the splinter, "Now you really must be going otherwise Dr Nye will get mad at me and it'll start yelling again."

"Yelling again? What did you do this time?" asked Scapegrace. He then turned angrily to his companion and snapped, "Would you stop snivelling, Thrasher!"

"S-sorry, Master." sobbed Thrasher. Clarabelle shrugged and said, "I was telling a man who had got his arm chopped off to pretend his arm was still there! I don't think he liked that idea. But then Nye came along and told me I was slacking off. It's so strict!"

And with that she skipped off, humming 'Ride of the Valkyries' to herself.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Skulduggery hated visiting the New Sensitives. He had nothing against most of them. It was their leader that was the problem. She was just too... Painful to look at. He approached the New Sensitives' tents cautiously. There was an unnatural quite about this place that was much too unnerving for his liking.

Pushing down his discomfort, he strode forward an entered the closest tent. It was deserted except for the thing that resembled a woman sitting in the centre of the room. The thing was dressed in a simple and dirty white dress. Its hands were clasped in its lap, its shaved head was down and its eyes were closed. It didn't even stir when Skulduggery entered its tent.

Skulduggery stared at it without emotion. It had been a great discovery for them when they had found out that reflections could be used as Sensitives of sorts. They had three jobs. Look out for strange visions, measure the magical waves in the area, and send out surveillance Spectators every now and again. Their leader had told them to do all of these things on Ghastly's command, and it was now their leader who passed on all the information to them.

Not really needing to be in the tent, Skulduggery turned and strode out. Once outside, he glanced up and down the line of tents. About five tents to his right, a cloud of steam was rising. Not hesitating, Skulduggery started walking towards it. When he reached the right tent he stepped in and stood silently by the doorway.

Most of the steam in the tent had been dissipated by the outside air coming in, so Skulduggery could see the inside fairly clearly. There was a coal pit at the back of the room and an empty water gourd was lying next to it. That was how the steam was made. Like with the last tent, there was a shaven headed reflection sitting in a rickety old chair in the centre of the room. However, unlike the last tent, there was a girl mopping the brow of this reflection.

She stiffened when she heard him enter, stood, and turned. She was wearing the usual dirty, plain white dress that marked her as a reflection. She looked to be about nineteen or twenty. She had long black hair and dark eyes. Her face was the emotionless mask that it became whenever she spoke to him. She was an exact replica of Valkyrie Cain, or rather Stephanie Edgely.

Unlike the other reflections in the other reflections in the camp, this one had been in use for so long it had grown a personality. In fact, it was so convincing that most of the people in the camp had started to call it Stephanie. Skulduggery hated it when they did that. It was a replica of Stephanie, (or Valkyrie, whatever you wanted to call her). Nothing more, nothing less. To him, it would always be the reflection or it.

"You called for me." he said tonelessly.

"Yes." it replied, ignoring his cold manor. It was used to it now. It paused for a moment before continuing, "My Sensitives have been picking up strange magical fluctuations."

"Darquesse?"

"No, it's not her. This is too subtle for that."

"Subtle?"

"Yes. These strange waves are so faint, I'm surprised that the Sensitives managed to pick them up at all."

"Does it seem like a major threat?"

"Not yet. Only three of my Sensitives have managed to pick them up, so its still mainly unconfirmed. We'll keep an eye on it and I'll let you know if anything changes."

Skulduggery nodded and said, "Anything else?"

"Yes actually." replied the reflection. It seemed to think about what it was going to say before saying cautiously, "You know my little sister..."

"**Her **little sister," interrupted Skulduggery, "Not yours. _You _are not Valkyrie _or _Stephanie. You are a mere copy."

Skulduggery saw a flash of anger in the reflections eyes but it continued, "As I was saying, you _do_ Alice do you not?"

"I do."

"Then you should know that she has a very strong magical ability lying dormant inside her."

Skulduggery paused before saying slowly, "How powerful are we talking here?"

"Judging by the way it is growing, one day she _may _be a match for Darquesse."

"A match for her as in fighting her for us, or fighting her so she can destroy what's left of the world?"

"We're not sure about that yet."

"Get a confirmation on it. We can't have another Destroyer appearing."

"And what will happen to Alice if this is a power of darkness?" said the reflection, its eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Skulduggery was silent for a moment before murmuring, "We will do what is necessary."

And with that he turned and strode out of the tent.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Night was always the time when the residents of the camp were most on edge. There was no more artificial light from the cities any more, and most nights the stars were covered by the thick clouds that were constantly shrouding the sky. So the darkness was pretty much absolute, except for the occasional fire in the distance. The apocalypse had rekindled everyone's childhood fear of the dark.

Skulduggery walked through the tents with Ghastly moving next to him. Most of the residents were inside the shelters, taking shelter from the fear outside. Those unlucky ones who did have to run an errand or work the night shift were slightly comforted by the bright flaming torches that were dotted throughout the camp. Skulduggery could understand what the people were so scared about. An attack could come at any time and there would be almost zero warning for them.

"Hey, do you hear that?" asked Ghastly suddenly. Skulduggery stopped and listened. He could hear raised voices. It sounded like they were coming from the medical bay. The duo exchanged a glance and hurried towards the commotion.

Outside the bay, they found an outraged Tanith and a less-than-pleased Nye. Tanith was kneeling on the ground supporting a semi-concious man whose upper body was covered with bandages. Skulduggery noticed that Clarabelle was standing in the doorway of the medical bay, a rather concerned looked on her face. Behind her he recognised the two ex-zombies, Vaurien Scapegrace and... He couldn't remember the other one's name. It was something ridiculous.

"HOW DARE YOU JUST THROW THIS MAN OUT-" Tanith was yelling but Nye interrupted coldly, "He is well enough to be moved to another shelter."

"Are you blind? He can barely keep his eyes open, let alone stand up or do anything else!" the blonde woman snapped back. Nye sighed and looked like it was about to turn around and go back into the shelter when Ghastly stepped in and said, "Wait a minute. What's happening?"

"This... This... _Thing _has just thrown this guy out in the mud when he clearly needs to stay in the medical bay for a lot longer!" snapped Tanith. Nye turned to Ghastly and said with a frown, "We're crowded enough in here as it is. We can't have people well enough to be moved crowding us up."

"I don't think he looks well enough to leave, actually," said Ghastly coldly.

"His life is not in danger and as long as someone comes and brings him daily medicine then he should be fine," stated Nye, matter-of-factly.

"You disgusting-" started Tanith, but this time Skulduggery spoke up, saying, "It's right you know Tanith. They need the room and-"

Tanith turned on him looking murderous.

"So now you're taking it's side are you?! Didn't it torture your friends to death in the war?!" she hissed.

"That was the old war," murmured Skulduggery.

"Oh, so that makes it okay? Can't you see that-"

"When I decided to come around here to visit, I didn't expect you to be fighting amongst yourselves," a new voice rang out suddenly. All of them jumped and looked up to see someone floating in the sky above them. A horribly familiar someone.

She had long dark hair that was swirling around her face. Dark eyes, only a few shades lighter than her hair, were glowing orange from the light of the torches below. The clothes she wore were obviously Bespoke Tailors made. There was a smirk on her lips and in her eyes. The shadows in the night sky seemed to gravitate around her.

Darquesse.


End file.
